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Old 02-16-2017, 11:59 PM   #1
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Diesel GMC Canyon Towing Escape 21

Our Canyon is a 4wd short bed crew cab with the 2.8 liter diesel to which we added a cab high fiberglass shell. I've also added extendable towing mirrors (from clearviewmirrors.com.au; GM doesn't offer towing mirrors for the Colorado/Canyon). We chose the Escape 21 first, and then picked the Canyon for our tow. I’m using the Fastway E2 hitch supplied by ETI.
Overall non-towing mileage to date is 26.3 mpg, with city miles at 21.1 mpg and highway miles at 26.7 mpg. Most of my highway miles have been on interstates at 70-80 mph. I have noticed that highway mileage starts dropping off fairly steeply above about 75 mph (this would be Montana and parts of Idaho and Utah where the speed limit is 80). I didn’t see a noticeable difference with or without the shell on the truck.
Overall I've been quite happy with the truck in non-towing mode. It won't win any drag races but has plenty of torque to chirp the tires from a stop if you need it. It's quiet and comfortable (in the truck world) with enough cab room for 4 adults and I still have 1240 pounds of payload with the shell on and my tools in the bed. Plus it fits in regular parking spots and in my garage, unlike the full-sized trucks.

The real test, though, is towing the 21 – after all, that’s what we bought the truck for. After 1300 miles, here are my impressions:
• I haven’t weighed the trailer yet, but I’d guess a little over 4000 pounds as it is loaded for this trip. The truck handles this load easily and comfortably – in the context of towing – at 60-65 mph. The tow-haul mode, which locks out 6th gear, re-maps the shift points, and engages a more aggressive engine braking regime, works very well both up hill and down. I had no problems maintaining 60 mph all the way up to the Siskiyou Summit on I-5, and basically didn’t need to touch the brakes coming back down into Redding. On smooth pavement, it’s almost possible to forget the trailer is back there. We’ll see what happens tomorrow on the haul from Needles to Flagstaff (210 miles, basically uphill all the way – 6400 feet elevation gain), but so far the truck is everything I expected as a tow vehicle.
• I really like the towing mirrors, and wouldn’t be without them. Others find them less necessary.
• Towing mileage on relatively flat terrain has averaged 17.2 mpg. On the mountain leg of this trip (from Eugene, OR to Yreka, CA) we got 15.0 mpg.

My conclusion so far: the diesel Canyon (and the mechanically identical Chevrolet Colorado) is an excellent tow vehicle for the Escape 19 or 21 and is probably overkill for the 17. I imagine that the long bed version (short bed = 5’; long bed = 6’) would work well for the 5.0TA, although you would have to pay attention to payload limitations in that application.
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:09 AM   #2
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Good usable info for those thinking of replacing a tow vehicle. Thanks for posting.

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Old 02-17-2017, 03:07 AM   #3
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We have the same truck, Stan. Thanks for the report ! So far, how do you like The E2 Fastaway hitch? Have you experienced any problems with it? Do you find it easy to hitch and unhitch ? Have you had to adjust it much or hear a lot of noise from it?
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:38 PM   #4
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Thank you for the report. We are considering a very similar setup so this is very encouraging.

Concerning your mpg towing, what speed do you tow at to get the 17.2mpg?

If you have any other data on towing mpg now or in the future I would be very interested.
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Old 02-17-2017, 01:15 PM   #5
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2017 GMC Canyon All Terrain Diesel with mid-tall ARE shell. 2014 19' Escape. The gross combined weight with 2 people, and full fresh, LP and diesel tanks is 9854 punds.

18 mpg towing at 60 - 500 miles round trip, Bisabee, AZ
16 mpg towing at 70 - 130 miles to Quartzsite, AZ
17 mpg towing at 65 - 130 miles from Quartzsite, AZ

I tow mostly with tow/haul mode off (so it will use 6th gear when it can.)

It towed with less fuss (engine/trans) than my old 2005 4.8L V8 Tundra. The difference was especially noticeable on the grade just outside of Bisbee.
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Old 02-17-2017, 01:57 PM   #6
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Thanks for the valuable information.
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Old 02-17-2017, 08:17 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nrgtic4 View Post
We have the same truck, Stan. Thanks for the report ! So far, how do you like The E2 Fastaway hitch? Have you experienced any problems with it? Do you find it easy to hitch and unhitch ? Have you had to adjust it much or hear a lot of noise from it?
No problems with the E2 hitch so far. My wife, who is a self-described wimp, can do everything that needs doing except install the cotter pins in the equalizer bar retaining brackets. I can't compare to other arrangements, but so far it's been very stable. Drove most of today with an estimated 30-40 mph wind coming from a 30-45 degree angle to the right front, and while it was certainly trying to push the rig around, there was never anything close to a white knuckle moment. I've been running the hitch just as it was set up by Dennis at ETI and don't expect to need any adjustments going forward, but we'll see. No noise except when backing at a very sharp angle. I might get out and remove the bars when doing this in future.

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Thank you for the report. We are considering a very similar setup so this is very encouraging.

Concerning your mpg towing, what speed do you tow at to get the 17.2mpg?
I tow at 60 mph with occasional excursions up to 65 when required by traffic. That's fast enough to get us where we're going, plus I try to be mindful of the 65 mph speed rating on the trailer tires.

I will certainly post additional relevant information as I have it.
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Old 02-18-2017, 11:23 AM   #8
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Using Stan's and Jamman's numbers, which are very similar to our diesel, I came up with this chart to help me consider my cruising speed on a round trip to Osoyoos of 6,000 miles, with the usual side trips:

Speed MPG Gallons $2.50 Hours
70 16 375 937 86
65 17 353 882 92
60 18 333 832 100

I guess I'll stick with my usual 62 unless traffic insists on 65 for a while. Cost to run faster, with these particular tow vehicles would not be a big difference, it's just a safety factor.
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Old 02-19-2017, 05:52 PM   #9
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A little more to report now that we have the trailer home. On the haul from the Colorado River at Needles up to Flagstaff, which is basically uphill all the way (7000 feet elevation gain in 200 miles), going against a headwind most of the way, mileage dropped to 14.2 mpg. Still no problems maintaining a steady 60-62 mph and no stability problems at all. For the entire trip back from Chilliwack via I-5 and CA-99 to Bakersfield, then CA-58 to Barstow and I-40 home, we averaged 16.4 mpg towing the 21 at 60-65 mph.

BTW, these are calculated numbers, not the numbers reported by the truck's computer. I have found the DIC numbers to be consistently high by anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 mpg.
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Old 02-19-2017, 06:11 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StanLewis View Post
BTW, these are calculated numbers, not the numbers reported by the truck's computer. I have found the DIC numbers to be consistently high by anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 mpg.
That's interesting. Our truck computer said we got 15.2 mpg towing mileage on our first trip back from Chilliwack, but my manual calculations came out to 15.8.
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Old 02-19-2017, 09:39 PM   #11
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Very nice Stan, thanks for sharing all your info.
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Old 02-20-2017, 08:31 AM   #12
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Very nice Stan, thanks for sharing all your info.
Thanks for posting Stan, good to know !
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Old 03-01-2017, 03:34 PM   #13
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Hi there all,

Very new to the forum and need to write a new member post here, but will soon be acquiring a escape 5.0, original version. It has the axel lift.

I believe the diesel Colorado/canyon to be a good size match up for the fifth wheel (there are clearance issues with larger trucks).

Great to hear of your experiences with the ease of towing with this truck, because I may be purchasing one very soon. Specs: Canyon or Colorado, 4wd, 2.8 duramax, crew cab, long bed.

If anyone out there happens to catch this that has recommendations for a new 4wd truck on the market that won't break the bank too bad for pulling the 5.0, I am all ears.

Cheers,

Happy almost new escape owners
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Old 03-01-2017, 03:35 PM   #14
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Also, we camp mostly off the beaten path and pavement, not crazy four wheeling or anything, but something to consider when using a larger truck that comes close to clearance of the 5.0.
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Old 03-01-2017, 03:40 PM   #15
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Welcome Clay to our little fiberglass world and forum....
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Old 03-01-2017, 07:13 PM   #16
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Hi there all,

Very new to the forum and need to write a new member post here, but will soon be acquiring a escape 5.0, original version. It has the axel lift.

I believe the diesel Colorado/canyon to be a good size match up for the fifth wheel (there are clearance issues with larger trucks).

Great to hear of your experiences with the ease of towing with this truck, because I may be purchasing one very soon. Specs: Canyon or Colorado, 4wd, 2.8 duramax, crew cab, long bed.

If anyone out there happens to catch this that has recommendations for a new 4wd truck on the market that won't break the bank too bad for pulling the 5.0, I am all ears.

Cheers,

Happy almost new escape owners
Hi:TwoPlusLu... We have towed both 5.0 and 5.0TA with our Crew Cab Nissan Frontier V6 4X4 Long Bed. Not a new design but not big bucks either.
Size really does matter!!! Alf
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Old 03-01-2017, 07:44 PM   #17
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Thank you for the quick reply and reference. How is the power and ease of towing for you? Also, gas mileage (a minor consideration, but still a consideration)?
thanks!
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:09 PM   #18
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Thank you for the quick reply and reference. How is the power and ease of towing for you? Also, gas mileage (a minor consideration, but still a consideration)?
thanks!
Hi: TwoPlusLu... IMHO torque tows. 281 lb. ft. of it and 265 hp. does the job. Gas mileage and trailer towing should not be used in the same paragraph. My only wish would be for a larger fuel tank for longer range. Trouble is that would reduce the carrying capacity of the truck. Everything is a compromise of sorts. We owned the trailer. We needed the truck!!!
Just got back from 53 days touring the sunny south. The truck just turned over 140,000 Kms. or almost 87,000 Mi. almost all of it towing miles!!! Alf
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Old 03-02-2017, 12:48 AM   #19
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I'm with Alf in that I wouldn't worry about mileage when considering a tow vehicle. I like the extra 90 or so ft-lbs of torque I got with the diesel compared to his Frontier, I like chugging along at 1500-2000 rpm, and I like the engine braking with the diesel, but there are trade-offs. You have to pay a little attention to fuel availability, because while diesel is readily available it's still only sold in around 55-60% of 'gas' stations, plus it costs more (than regular). I calculated that the break-even point for fuel cost savings vs. the extra cost of the diesel engine (about USD 3,700 in the case of the Canyon) - never mind any time value of money - would be at least 1,000,000 miles driven, and possibly as much as 4,000,000. Or never. Routine maintenance costs more too. Plus, the way GM packages the Colorado/Canyon, to get the diesel you have to buy a tarted up crew cab instead of the (relatively) plain jane extended cab I would otherwise have preferred, which means the diesel Canyon, especially, ends up at the very high end of the price range for mid-sized trucks. (I admit, though, that the "tartiness" is growing on me.) I'm quite happy with my choice, and I'd do it again, but there are other viable options, and YMMV, especially if you don't spend much time towing up and down mountains.
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Old 03-02-2017, 04:33 PM   #20
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Thank you both very much for the input. Much appreciated.

As for the canyon/Colorado diesel option, I am writing it off the table due to purchase price, as you said, being too high. Will have to go another route.

I am a much bigger fan of the base tundra, 5.7, 4wd, comes in much cheaper, sub or at 35k, and has a much better interior for a base vehicle in my humble opinion.

However, there is the issue of the size of that truck working with a axle lifted original 5.0. jury is still out on that one (size in reference to bed rail height under the 5th wheel).
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